The Science of Attraction
by miss-volturi-princess
Summary: An almost-murder. A girl with a mysterious past. Some really pissed off bad guys. And of course Moriarty. Not I repeat. Not slash
1. An almost murder

**Hi! this is a re-upload with (hopefully!) better punctuation, spelling etc. Read and enjoy! and review if you like it! **

I still don't really know how it happened. One moment I walking down the cold stone of Baker Street, the next, I was struggling for air as a silk scarf was wrapped tight around my throat

"Ahh!, help... please..." I managed to choke out before the world went black...

**JPOV. **

It was yet another quiet night in 221B, Sherlock was sitting perfectly still, eyes glazed over thinking about who knows what, while I was reading a collection of Russian poems, the silence was only broken by the turning of the pages until...

The silence was broken off by a strangled scream, and both my and Sherlock's feet scrambling to the window.

Two figures were struggling, one quite smaller than the other, well that was until the smaller one went limp in the other's arms, something was wrong. I quickly grabbed my pistol from the kitchen counter and shot at the larger figure. It hit him in the arm and he stumbled away, clutching at his arm, leaving the smaller figure on the ground

I immediately ran for the door

"well, what are you waiting for?" I yelled at Sherlock, who was staring out of the window blankly. He snapped out of his trance and hurried out of the door with me and onto the street.

There lay a woman, around Sherlock's age, in a black trench coat and black boots, with a silk scarf wound tight around her neck.

We rushed around her, and I lightly removed the scarf, which was slightly embedded in her neck and checked for a pulse.

"She's alive, we need to get her inside" I said, grasping the woman under the armpits

"you take her legs"

together, we managed to get her upstairs and lay her on the couch, I ran to get a bandage for her neck. When I got back, Sherlock had the woman's purse

"Her name Is Allanah Wilson, single, basically married to her work, anti- social, I don't see a motive to kill her, it's odd"

I listened intently as I bandaged her neck and noted the similarities between Sherlock and Allanah

"I know what you're thinking John."

"And what's that?"

"That Miss Allanah and myself share certain... similarities"

"Similarities? You're basically the same person!"

"Hush, John. She's stirring" he was indeed correct, Allanah's eyelids fluttered and opened

"w- What happened" she asked, her voice harsh

"You were strangled." Holmes said flatly

"Holmes!"

"What?" Sherlock replied, naive to his insensitive blankness

"Strangled? oh yes, I remember now..."Allanah trailed off, lost in thought

"Thank you both, if it weren't for you two, I think I would be dead, I don't know that you did, but I don't think I would be here if you weren't here"

"Don't stress your voice, sleep now." I said firmly

"Alright, fine. But, shouldn't you call a doctor?"

"I am one. How else would your neck be bandaged?"

"Oh, thank you doctor..."

"Watson, John Watson and this is Sherlock Holmes"

"A pleasure to know you" we shook hands, and I almost laughed at the formality in this strange situation

"ok now we'll let you sleep"

"thank you." She croaked quietly as we left the room.

Sitting in his room, Sherlock's thoughts drifted to the beautiful woman in his lounge room, and how many similarities the two shared

_You two are basically the same person!_

Opposites attract, sure, but the similarities are what breed attraction.

Well, in his mind maybe, but he'll have to conduct a few controlled tests...

**aha! well that was the first chapter of The Science of Attraction! what did y'all think? do you like Allanah? or do you need more time do decide? read on if you like it and review please!**


	2. They just won't stop!

**Chapter 2! thanks for reading! again, re uploaded with better spelling and punctuation and I hope you love it! **

**Allanah POV**

That night I fell asleep feeling like crap, well, who would blame me? The only reason I think I went to sleep in the first place was because I got lost in remembering _that_ moment in my mind, the scarf digging deep into my throat, the feeling of the air being forced out of my lungs. I must have succumbed to tiredness..

But I quickly woke up. Cold sweat made my hair stick to my face, and I was breathing hard

"You know most attempted murder victims don't sleep at all for at least a few days. I'm quite surprised."

A voice came from the armchair opposite the couch, it was dark, and so I hadn't noticed him when I woke

"Yeah, I guess I just got lost in... remembering. Actually, I think I might need some fresh air."

I got off the couch and went for the door. As my hand reached for the handle a hand gripped my arm.

"Alone in a dark London street in the middle of the night? The same night that someone tried to kill you? I will not have it. I shall accompany you." Sherlock opened the door for me as I stepped out onto the landing.

We stepped out on the sidewalk and I headed to the Wharf, salt water always clears my head.

Sherlock matched his stride to mine

"You didn't have to come with me, I'd much rather be alone" I said, trying not to be rude,

"I knew that" Sherlock replied

"Are you some kind of mind reader?" I asked sceptically

"No."

"Then how did you know?"

"By your phone."

"You went through my phone?"

"Yes." Sherlock said flatly

"you see, the model for one, is a blackberry, best suited for business use, two: numbers related to your work are saved to the sim card, which means they are numbers that you don't want to lose, suggesting that they are important, and three: you only _receive_ calls from unknown numbers. You never actually call them, which means you don't socialise well with others."

He finished, taking a breath, he hadn't breathed through the whole explanation

"wow. That's amazing, how do you do that?"

"I'm just very observant" he smiled, just a slight tilting at the corner of his mouth

"you don't really smile a lot do you?" I asked

"oh, I beg to differ, I smile when I come across a particularly intriguing case, when my mind cracks a code-"

"No, I mean smile at people"

"Right, in that case, no."

We were at the Warf, standing on the boardwalk, staring out to the moonlit ocean, we stood in silence for a while, and then, I broke the silence

"what do you do? I guess it has to do with the 'I can tell your entire social life through your call log' thing right?" I looked up at Sherlock, his smile had widened, just a bit.

"yes. I am a consulting detective for the London police"

"So the police come to you when they are lost." I guessed

"Exactly"

I stared out at the ocean.

Then a thought occurred to me.

"Could you tell who tried to kill me?"

"Probably"

"When?"

"Well, I would need to examine the one clue."

"What clue?

"The imprint the scarf made on your neck"

"You want to see it?"

"It would do well for my investigation."

"Okay."

I gently removed the bandage, revealing the long cut on my neck, Sherlock produced a small pocket torch, and went to work examining my neck. I tilted my chin back, giving him better access as his fingers lightly explored the cut

"the cut is relatively deep, so it was a male since a woman couldn't use that much force, the right side is deeper so that means he had an injury in the last year in his left arm, most likely a sprained wrist, that is all I can get in this light, we will try again in the morning." He finished his examination

"Thank you. Really, if it weren't for you and Dr Watson I'd probably be dead right now"

"It would really be terrible if you were to die"

Sherlock said quietly, looking at the ground, I looked up at him in surprise, he looked back and gave me a small half smile, and I smiled back.

Sherlock gently cupped my cheek and slowly... so slowly... lowered his lips to mine.

Footsteps, running towards us. In my peripheral vision I saw a dark figure coming right for me.

I barely had time to breathe.

The figure jumped on me, pushing me off the boardwalk and into the water, my head was forced under, the salt water stinging my neck brutally, my air was running out, but I still fought, kicking hard, trying to get away, to the air. My vision blurred and blackened around the sides, my back hitting the bottom of the ocean was the last thing I felt before I blacked out for the second time that night, this time for my death.

**those murderers never give up... Allanahs past will come up next chapter so stay tuned! also, you may think Sherlock and Allanah are moving too fast, but you must remember, both Sherlock and Allanah are extraordinary in their own rights, so the relationship would move faster (or slower) than an ordinary one.. okay, so thats all and don't forget to review please! :)**


	3. A past to remember

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in sooooooo long! you have permission to verbally kick my ass, but I'm pretty sure exams have already done that for you! Some of Allanah's past comes up in this chapter for all those wondering who the hell wants to kill her! Okay, author note end.**

_My back hitting the bottom of the ocean was the last thing I felt before I blacked out for the second time that night, this time for my death..._

Blackness. Total, never ending blackness, the pressure in my chest is killing me. Literally. It's agony. Can't I just die already? Please...

Air? Isn't the meaning of death, like, not having air? Wait. Air? Air AIR!

I tried to suck in breath but got water in my lungs that I coughed up. I tried again. Water again but... Air, a tiny bit of air. Another breath, all air, more air, precious air.

I sat up with a jolt and gasped huge gulps of air. Gasps that turned to sobs, hysterical sobs. I pulled my legs up to my chest and sobbed into my knees

I felt an arm around my shoulders

"Sherlock?"

I looked up at the man sitting next to me, he was dripping wet

"You fished me out?" I said with a small chuckle, but it ended up another coughing fit

"Thankfully" he replied

Sherlock turned so we were facing each other, and stared into my eyes

"Allanah. You must tell me why this is happening" he said gravelly

I sighed and stared at the ground for a while, I had been waiting for this for some time. I took deep breaths and glanced up

"I... Sherlock!"

I screamed as the man who had saved me was taken at the throat by a silk scarf. Will this bloody night never end? Instinct quickly kicked in and I immediately ran around the struggling men and jumped on the stranglers back, wrapping my arms around his neck in a headlock with a war cry.

We all struggled in the double strangle-headlock for a fair while, and I was surprised someone else didn't try to make a conga line

I twisted the stranglers head to the side, hard, so he stumbled and released his hold on Sherlock. Unfortunately though, as the strangler fell backward I realised I was going with him

Uh oh.

I heard a crack as we hit the ground and a searing pain tore through my chest, not to mention a guy about three times my size was unconscious on top of me. Awkward.

"Um, Sherlock? A little help?" I managed to croak out, a few moments passed and I felt the unconscious strangler hauled off me

I lay there for a while, taking shallow breaths and building up the will to get up and possibly get to a hospital when, honestly, this old, rotting,-infested-with-god-knows-what boardwalk felt so comfortable...

"Allanah do not go to sleep!" Bloody Sherlock.

"Why?" I mumbled

"Because if you fall asleep you'll get hypothermia, most likely" he said blankly, the man was really getting on my nerves with all of his stupid _facts_.

I heaved myself up through the pain

_Yep, fractured ribs..._

"I need a hospital..." I mumbled

"Dull." Sherlock said. Wow. This guy is really... err... I don't know what he is, apart from infuriating

"I don't give a crap!" I hissed "get me to a frigging hospital!"

"fine." he huffed, as if this was completely unnecessary. He helped me hobble over to a nearby bench while he called the ambulance (he had fortunately taken his coat off before jumping in to save me)

Sometime before the ambulance called, I ended up going to sleep anyway.

I woke up in a very stark and white and sterile hospital room with tubes coming out of everywhere. I tried to sit up, but my earlier prediction of fractured ribs was obviously correct, so I lay there and tried to recall the previous night.

_Hmmm... Walking down the street... almost strangled to death, woke up in an apartment with a doctor... err what was it? W-Watson? Yes, that was it. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes... the one who could tell my social life from my phone... sleep... waking up and walking to the wharf with Sherlock and us almost kissing..._

I slapped my palm to my face at the memory, what was I thinking?

_Oh yes, and me almost drowning. Being yanked out of the water by Sherlock... falling asleep again and waking up here._

I calmed down a bit after remembering what had actually happened and how I ended up here. I wondered if Sherlock was alright...

As if reading my mind, Sherlock strode in, followed by an overstressed looking man and Dr Watson

"Allanah, this is Detective Inspector Lestrade" Sherlock said, gesturing to the stranger. I gave a nod of acknowledgement and smiled

"Good to see you again Doctor" I turned to Dr Watson

"It's good to see you aren't dead yet" he gave a small smile

"Now, Allanah" Sherlock started, butting in to the conversation "about what you were going to tell me last night..."

"Before I nearly died for the second time" I added, my smartass side kicking in

"Yes. We need you to tell us what you know about what's going on for the police investigation" his nose crinkled at _police investigation_. I took a deep breath; this was it, the moment I had dreaded for eight years.

"Okay." I closed my eyes

"It was eight years ago..."

_Flashback..._

Allanah stepped out of the showroom, slightly drunk but totally happy, that had been her first fashion show, and she had already made seven thousand dollars profit. She shrugged into her Balmain jacket and made her way down the street to her car. She had just dumped her bag in the passenger seat when she heard a bang not far away. She turned to see a figure on the ground lying in a pool of blood.

"Oh my god!" she screamed and ran towards the figure hoping he was still alive. Seeing there was no pulse she rummaged in her pocket for her phone she had just dialled the ambulance when her phone was snatched out of her hand. She looked up to see the barrel of a shotgun

"Get up" a gruff voice demanded, but Allanah stayed on the ground defiant

"No way." Her comment was met with a hard kick to the face, as she stumbled to the ground she reached up to touch her nose, her hand ended up covered in blood. She dragged herself to her knees and eventually to her feet and stood facing the masked gunman.

She was pissed off now. And you do not piss off an ex-cop.

She launched herself at the gun, wrenching it out of the man's hand with a hard turn of his wrist and she smiled at the resulting crack. She then gave him a hard kick to the gut and face and a low kick to the shin to take him down. When he was on the ground, she smashed his head into the gutter and rendered him unconscious. She stood, shaking and dialled the police.

As she stood in the flashing blue and red lights she saw the man who was shot loaded into an ambulance in a body bag and the man who she had fought being loaded into an ambulance with a neck brace. When the police had taken her statement and the ambulance and checked her out, she was free to go home, as she reached her car for the second time that night she was taken from the neck from behind and dragged into a nearby alley and shoved up against a wall

"You couldn't have just kept to your own business could you?"A voice rasped in her ear

"Now I've lost one of my best men because of you. And now, I think you owe me something to apologise" he said as his hand trailed up her leg...

_End Flashback..._

"You could guess what happened then..." I stared determinately at the wall

"and then he told me, wherever I was, he would be watching and.. one day he would kill me, so I moved, and dyed my hair, changed my last name and just hoped.." I finished with a shaky breath.

_I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry._

"You can confirm my training and deployment history if you check my file in the archives."

The room was silent, it irritated me

"Could you leave now?" I still stared at the wall at Dr John and the Detective Inspector made their way out

"It was a pleasure to meet you Detective Inspector" I gave a shaky smile at my new acquaintance

"You too Miss Allanah" he smiled as he closed the door, leaving me and Sherlock.

"What you went through I can't imagine" Sherlock started, but I held up my hand to stop him

"Sherlock, can you do me a favour?" I asked. I could see Sherlock getting uncomfortable at the prospect of tears, but he answered my anyway

"Of course"

"Can you hug me... please?" I said nervously, my eyes welling up with tears, I was surprised when he sat on the edge of the bed, pulled me close and let me sob into his chest.

After what seemed like hours of crying I finally unfurled myself from Sherlock

"Thank you" I sniffled

"You're welcome" he said simply, but then went on to say something that made my heart burn bright

"I promise to you that I will find him, and make sure you will never live in fear again."

I know the hidden meaning behind the words should have scared me but right now, I just don't care.

**My longest chapter yet! What did you think? Review please!**


	4. A Really Crappy Homecoming present

**Hi! Thank everyone who decided to stick with me into chapter number 4! You rock; this chapter is dedicated to all! Especially my reviewers okay! Hope you love it as much as we all love Sherlock! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Sherlock, I would be too absorbed with my own awesomeness to write fan fiction.**

The next afternoon, Sherlock visited me again. I sat on my bed, reading the file Detective Lestrade had dropped off this morning, it was my old police file. I smiled at the long list of abilities and achievements and reminisced about the old days

"What are you reading?" Sherlock asked, I smirked and held out the folder to him

"See for yourself" he took the folder with a questioning look, sat down and started to read.

'_Black belt in Tae Kwan Do and Hapkido by age nine?' _Sherlock raised an eyebrow, I shrugged

"My dad was a coach."

"You can fly military grade planes?" Sherlock said incredulously

"Mmhmm"

"Claustrophobic"

"Yeah, I got caught in a lift when I was five, never really got over it…"

I stared out of the window at the bland building across, I loved the city, but it got damn boring sometimes...

"Bored…" I mumbled

"Ah yes, I have a slight problem with that also…" Sherlock trailed off

"Really, what do you do?"

"Well if there's a gun…" He was cut off by the door opening and the white-coated doctor stepping in

"You should be allowed to be discharged by tomorrow morning at the latest" she smiled kindly, gave Sherlock a nod and exited.

I let out a sigh

"Thank god, I was starting to go insane in here, I even hate hospital air" I complained

"You do realise that after you get out of here that you'll be in constant danger" Sherlock started

"Where do you live?" Sherlock said

"Gloucester place, I was walking home when I was attacked the first time"

"Obviously you won't be walking anywhere at night" he said.

"I will ask for some protective custody for you while we look into your case"

I noticed that he didn't exactly say _who _he was going to ask…

"And of course I'll come to you with updates." Sherlock went to stand, finished with his speech. It was quite clear I wasn't going to be included in the actual figuring-out-of-who-is-trying-to-murder-me aspect of it all. And I didn't like it at all.

"No way" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Sherlock turned to me

"No way what?" he said raising an eyebrow

"No way am I going to sit like a little damsel in distress while everyone else solves my problems! I want to be part of the investigation!" I said, a bit louder than I should have, but Sherlock stayed neutral

"I do my best work without outside influence" he said, with the slightest hint of irritation in his voice

_Good._

"Fine, I'll just go off on my own then" I gave a small smile and stared out the window, Sherlock stood still, facing the door pondering. Finally, with a sigh (or was it more of a huff?) he turned around and said

"Okay, fine. It is your attempted murder we are investigating after all"

"Thank you." I said simply as he exited the room

The following morning, I was discharged from hospital. As I hailed a cab a tall, thin figure appeared next to me, scaring the living hell out of me

"God! Don't do that! Attempted murder victim here" I gasped

"I wouldn't say that so loudly if I were you, attempted murder victim" Sherlock replied

"whatever" I huffed, and stepped into the cap. To my surprise, Sherlock followed me

"A truly genius comeback" he said, I was tempted to tell him to shut the hell up, but that would kinda justify that last statement.

"your picking up half the tab" I said simply as the cabbie drove off

"They got the man who tried to kill us at the wharf" Sherlock informed me

"He was unconscious; a pack of wild wolves could have gotten him"

"Wolves are smarter." Sherlock said with such bluntness that I had to stifle a giggle

"You shouldn't talk that way about the police" I said, not entirely serious

"ahh, yes, but I know them, and they are insufferable idiots" Sherlock said, again with no humour. Just stating fact

"oh, how?" I asked

"they can't even solve their own cases, for one…"

"how do you know that?" I raised my eyebrows

"Because when they're out of their depth, they come to me. And they do that VERY often"

"why would they come to you?" I asked, an unconscious note of bitchiness in my voice, countering Sherlock's arrogance

"Because my list of solved cases is a fair bit longer than theirs"

"okay, so you're not employed by the police, but they come to you when they can't figure it out?" I scoffed

"the police don't do that." I finished

Sherlock gave a small laugh

"they do I my case. I'm a consulting detective, the only one in the world, I invented the job"

"oh, okay…" I said as if I understood

"what about John? What does he do?" I asked as the cab drove down my street

"Assists me, helps me out then I get in a tight spot, he's the only doctor that will work with me" he chuckled.

The cab lurched to a stop a few doors down from my flat, I stepped out and Sherlock stepped out also, saying he would walk to Baker Street. we paid the tab (Sherlock actually did pick up half) and started down to my door in silence. Two doors down from my place, Sherlock threw out his arm, stopping me (and almost hitting me in the face for that matter) and sniffing the air

"do you smell that?" he asked, I shook my head no

"gasoline?" he muttered to himself

"Sherlock…" I said in a low, quiet voice

"what's going on?" I asked in a low voice. The street was silent, almost frozen in time,

_Wow. This is stereotypical._ I thought.

Sherlock took two cautious steps forward, and sniffed again, I crept beside him, barely breathing. Waiting for god knows what….

**BOOM**

The sound echoed around the street, and the force threw Sherlock and me backwards onto the street. The explosions rang out for thirty long seconds until the only sounds were various debris hitting the ground.

I held my head in my hands and waited until silence reigned again. Finally, I lifted my head and examined the damage.

My apartment was completely annihilated, there was nothing left except the empty skeletons of my possessions, the buildings beside and opposite were all in various degrees of destruction, and the street was more like a garbage dump.

I heard coughing somewhere to my left

"Sherlock?" I said, surprised that my voice was dry and croaky, suddenly I felt a hand grip my forearm and yank me up. I started to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth

"it's only me" Sherlock said

"come on, they'll be back soon looking for us" I could tell Sherlock meant the people who had blown my flat up. If they were coming back, I certainly didn't want to be there.

We stumbled and ran away from the scene, back to Baker Street. I could tell, looking back at the smouldering remains of my home, that again, my life will never be the same again.

**YAY! another chapter finito! hope you loved it! R&R please!**


	5. He's coming

**Chapter 5! OMG I made it this far! Yippee! *does happy dance* If you are reading this, THANK YOU! For sticking with me and Allanah for five chapters **

**Disclaimer: Me no ownies...**

I and Sherlock stumbled through the door of 221b, coughing and bleeding. John sat in one of the armchairs, reading the newspaper; he immediately jumped up as we entered

"What the hell happened?" he asked, throwing a pointed look at Sherlock

"Well obviously there was another attack on Allanahs life" Sherlock said, rolling his eyes

"Well, are you alright?" John said

"My injuries are perfectly manageable, but you might want to take a look at Allanahs leg" Sherlock replied.

I looked down, I hadn't felt anything with my leg but sure enough, my calf was bloody and the skin ragged, and a large piece of glass stuck out stiffly, flanked my many smaller pieces of glass.

"Shit." I said. It wasn't long before the adrenaline worked its way out of my system and I started feeling the pain, let's just say the stream of profanities got a lot louder.

Half an hour later I sat on one of the kitchen chairs, my leg propped up on the table

(Sherlock's experiments had been begrudgingly removed) while John worked on getting the glass out. All of the smaller glass had been taken out and now John worked on the large piece. First he tried to wiggle it, but it was embedded to deep and ended up with me screaming out various obscenities

"What's all this noise about?" a kindly voice asked. I looked past Sherlock to see an old lady with a kind face standing in the doorway

"Allanah this is Mrs. Hudson, our landlady" Sherlock said

"Hi" I smiled, she reminded me of my mum

"Hello dear, got in a spot of trouble have you?" she asked nodding towards my leg

"Yeah"

"Oh well, Johns a very good doctor, he'll have you fixed up in no time" Mrs. Hudson smiled at John, and John smiled back

"Look at this mess!" Mrs. Hudson exclaimed. Well, the flat was pretty messy, all of Sherlock's 'experiments' had been strewn across the living room, glass bottles piled precariously on top of any flat surface

"I'm not cleaning this up" Mrs. Hudson said, pointing a finger at Sherlock

"I'm your landlady-

"Not our housekeeper" John and Sherlock finished for her

"Exactly" Mrs. Hudson said as she moved towards the door

"Lovely to meet you dear" She said from the doorway

"You too" I said

John had used my temporary distraction to get a firm grip on the piece of glass and now, he yanked it out of my leg

"HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF-

After my leg had been properly bandaged, we sat in the lounge

"These people are very persistent" Sherlock said

"Three murder attempts in a week, yes" John added. I pondered for a moment

"It seems that … they are too persistent, like- I don't know- like someone else is behind this, not the people who attacked me that night" I said slowly

"Yes, by your story, I would deduce that the man who you incapacitated was just a typical, hit man gangster. But the other one… yes, he sounds like one of the more… devious ones" Sherlock said

"Sherlock- John started quietly "we have to consider that _he_ may be involved in this"

"_He's_ involved in everything John; we just have to ask 'how directly?'" Sherlock added

"If _he's_ involved, Allanah is in more danger than we originally thought"

Both John and Sherlock seemed to forget I was there

"Uh, hello? Still here" I said waving my hand in the air

"Who is _he_?" I asked

"Moriarty."

Was the one word that passed Sherlock's lips. Not even knowing who Moriarty was, I guessed that it was someone beyond dangerous just by the look in both Sherlock and Johns eyes. I decided not to press the issue right now.

What I did realize was that I was exhausted, I stifled a yawn

"I better get to a hotel" I said, standing up

"y'know, since my apartment got blown up and all"

"Are you really so stupid that you would think you could make it to a hotel?" Sherlock said, I stifled the urge to slap that condescending look off his face

"You have to stay here." He said simply, my brain rejected the thought of being ordered to do anything, but I shut up anyway.

It was past midnight before I fell into an uneasy slumber on 221bs couch. It seemed that I was only asleep a second before there was a fast knocking at the door. Sherlock was there in a flash

_Does this man ever sleep?_

Sherlock lead the way into the lounge, with DI Lestrade following suit, I sat up quickly, completely alert.

"What's going on?" Sherlock and I asked simultaneously, the detective took a breath

"_He's _left you a message" he said. Sherlock's eyes widened

"I'll be right behind you" was all he said, he looked over to me

"This concerns you now" he said I nodded and was up and ready in a matter of seconds. John had just stumbled into the room when he saw me and Sherlock ready to go, he sighed

"I'll get my coat" was all he said. Within five minutes we were I a taxi and on our way.

The little digital clock said 2:09 AM, but I was close to hyperactive. I fiddled and chewed on my nails

_What was the 'message'?_

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.

The cab finally pulled up on the curb of the crime scene. Blue and red lights flashed and yellow tape lined the scene. As we stepped out of the cab, the cold air immediately hit me and I started to shiver violently. All my clothes and jackets were disintegrated yesterday.

Suddenly I felt a warm weight over my shoulders. Sherlock had given me his long woolen coat. It dwarfed my small figure

"Thanks" I smiled

"We don't want you getting pneumonia"

My short lived comfort was torn away the instant I saw the body.

The corpse's chest was burnt to a crisp in such a way that you could still see the heart. You could tell by the look of pure, torturous agony on the girls face that she was still alive when she had the heart burned out of her. My breath caught, bile rose in my throat and my eyes fogged up with tears.

The girl would have been beautiful, long platinum blonde hair, indigo eyes, button nose and full lips.

I know she would have been beautiful because I had seen that face more times than I can count, in photos, videos and in my memory, at school, at swim practice, when I was first signed in as a cop. I knew that face because…

She was my sister.

**The plot thickens… R&R! Love toy all as usual **


	6. A kiss, A punch, A perfect match

**Hello all! It's me again (or is it?) no really it is (or is it?)**

**This chapter is dedicated to:**

**Xxkissesandcuddlesxx, CreativeChica39, Coco Louise, x-Pick'n'Mix-x, aireeagle92 and Lady Cherri. My Awesome reviewers! Who I'm pretty sure I love (or do I?) seriously, what is wrong with me today?.**

**Disclaimer: Dude, this is on .. not the BBC, who coincidently Do own this show. Not moi.**

**Oh! and find me on LiveJournal under volturiprincess (i've got the same profile pic as on here BTW :)) )**

My breaths came in short gasps; the only sound I registered was the rapid beating of my heart. This wasn't random, not a coincidence. This was a message. Either more were to come, or I was next. Guilt rose in my chest, tightened in my stomach

_I did this._

Tears fell down my cheeks, the cold didn't matter, I gave Sherlock back his coat and approached my sister in a guilt-filled haze. Someone tried to stop me entering, I rounded quickly on them

"That's my sister" I said in a cold, dangerous voice "if you stop me, you'll end up worse than her"

I slowly knelt beside her and stroked her hair

"Lanie…" I whispered "I'm… so sorry" I broke down, tears running a river down my face, I only breathed in short, high pitched gasps.

Sherlock stood behind me, silently examining the body. Lanie.

"A blowtorch, I suspect…" He deducted, but I had no patience for his skills

"Well, nah" I spat "She obviously had her chest burned off with a goddamn shovel!"

Sherlock looked taken aback, but stayed silent. Good choice. If he had said anything else, I probably would have punched him.

Watson stepped forward to figure out the time of death.

"About eight hours ago..." eight hours ago. Eight hours ago I could have called her and she would have answered, eight hours ago I could have visited her... Which proved yet another question, why was she here? Lanie lived in Wales; it further proved that it wasn't a coincidence. It was a message. For me, and somehow, for Sherlock.

I stood up and ran. Away from the horror of what I had inevitably caused. I ran out onto the street and turned onto the darker, dingier side street.

I sat in a dirty alley next to a skip bin, contemplating and wallowing in what I had caused and done. My blood felt like lava, dirty and hot with guilt.

_I caused this… She would have been alive if it wasn't for me… There will be more to come, everyone I care about… _

_No. It won't happen again. I caused this, I will finish it. If they want me dead, they can have me dead._

Filled with my resolve, I reached into my pocket and found the switch knife I always carried on me. I flicked it open and held it to the moonlight, it glinted eerily.

I poised the knife at my stomach, throwing all sense of self-preservation away. Strangely, I felt strangely calm, like it was meant to happen.

I decided to put a last message on my phone for Sherlock and John, my saviors.

Opening my messages, I typed

**Sherlock and John, thank you for everything you've done for me, preserving my life for this long. Thank you for sacrificing your life for me, for your selflessness and your caring. I'm sorry it came to this, but I will not have people die for me, especially people who I care for. That includes you two.**

My tears blurred my vision of the screen, my last words would be to Sherlock, the brilliant, confusing man for whom I had grown an inexplicable attraction, desire to since the moment me had met

**Sherlock, what almost happened at the wharf? I wish it had.**

**Allanah.**

I saved the message to my drafts, hoping someone would think to look there.

My wrist looked deathly pale in the moonlight, the veins prominent beneath, I choked out a strangled, hysterical half-laugh. How could evolution be so stupid? Leaving veins under such thin skin…

My knife punctured the skin slightly, a tiny drop of blood seeped out. After that I slowly cut the skin.

But before I was half way through, long, pale fingers pried the knife away and threw in down the alley.

I looked up to see Sherlock, with his own knife out of his coat cutting the sleeve off of my shirt and making a makeshift bandage for my wrist.

I stared at him, lost for words. What I had written flashed back to me in an instant, and I realized, I really, really wished we had kissed on the wharf.

I decided to make up for lost time.

I pounced on him and pressed my lips to his. I reveled in the softness and the smoothness of him.

All too soon, Sherlock pushed me off him, a strange look in his eyes, I didn't know exactly know what it meant, but rejection pulsed in my chest. That exact second, I passed out.

**JPOV**

As soon as we had found Allanah, her wrists slit, Sherlock acted strange. I suspected it was because of the vivid reminder of his dark past (I pretended I didn't see the very same marks as scars on his own wrists)  
But two weeks afterwards, he still was odd. He didn't talk to Allanah (who had moved into a hotel) except for the flat, yet polite greetings he gave her when she came over to work on her own case. We had constructed a timeline of the past events

April 25th 2009: Allanah witness the murder of George Brahms. Is later sexually assaulted by unknown assailant

1st May 2009: Allanah relocates to London and changes name (Allanah Sanchez)

2nd June 2010: while walking home (via Baker Street) a murder attempt is made (strangulation)

2nd June 2010: Another attempt is made (drowning)

8th June 2010: Allanahs flat is blown up

9th of June 2010: Lanie Moreno (Allanahs sister) murdered.

Allanah slumped over in her armchair

"God, when you put it that way, it makes it that much scarier" she said in a small voice

"I still can't believe she's gone… and in that way..." she trailed off, her voice cracking. She still blamed herself for her sister's murder, and was subsequently deriving herself of things like food and water as some kind of punishment.

Sherlock mumbled something I couldn't hear, but Allanah did. Her head snapped up and her eyes pierced a metaphorical hole in Sherlock

"What was that?" she asked him, her voice low and dangerous

"I said, 'get over it.'"

Allanah quickly stood up and faced off with Sherlock, they seemed to forget that I was there

"Take. That. Back" she growled. The ridiculous height difference was made up for in Allanahs stance, voice and glare

"Why would I do that?" Sherlock nonchalantly asked

Allanah was vivid. Beyond vivid. Anyone could see in that moment that she hated, despised, beyond anything rational, hated Sherlock.

She pulled her fist back and punched Sherlock with the force of a small truck. There was no blood, but he was going to have a black eye the size of my hand.

After Allanah had stormed out, I demanded an answer from Sherlock.

"What the hell was that?"

"The truth." was Sherlock's simple reply

"No. That wasn't the truth, that was cruel, stupidly, incredibly, inhumanly cruel Sherlock!"

Something spread on Sherlock's face. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was guilt.

"I had to."

"What?" I was definitely confused

"Don't you see?" Sherlock burst out

"Killing Allanahs sister was a message! He said he would burn my heart out! I thought that would only mean you were in danger, but now…" Sherlock trailed off, and pulled out his phone.

A text from a blocked number.

**Do you like my present? I should take up matchmaking as a second job don't you think? M**

"This is why I have to push Allanah away. To keep her out of danger"

"But you just sent her out in the middle of London, in the middle of the night…" I pointed out. Sherlock's eyes widened and he ran out of the door.

**APOV**

I slumped over the bed in my hotel room, breathing heavily.

_I punched Sherlock Holmes in the face_

I let out a kind of hysterical, half-laugh, thinking of how many people have wanted to do that…

My thoughts were interrupted by a rapid knocking on the door. My ever-lasting pocket knife in one hand, I walked over and opened the door.

I was shoved backwards, lost my footing and landed on my ass on the carpet, my knife flying out of my hand. A rag was pressed over my mouth and nose, and I passed out.

**Holy shit! Allanahs been kidnapped! Will Sherlock find her in time? **

**Read & Review = LOVEEEEEEE**

**Turns out doing a mad ass workout is the perfect cure for writers block )**


	7. He wants a climax

**God, another spout of writers block. What. A. Bitch. But I'm Ba-ack!**

**Again, hearts and smiles to my reviewers, favorites and author alerts.**

**We are starting to get to the exciting part now! Thank you all for sticking with me through all this time, if you are reading this, you rock.**

**Disclaimer: All I own is a computer, twinkle fingers and an over active imagination.**

**JPOV**

"Sherlock? What's going on?" I panted as I ran into the room. I had been called from Baker Street and didn't have time to hail a cab. So I ran all the way to the hotel.

"She's gone." Sherlock said. He was leaning against the wall, looking deflated

"Allanah?"

"Of course Allanah! She's been taken."

"How? I mean, Allanah seems perfectly capable to look after herself…" I found it hard to believe Allanah could have been kidnapped without a struggle

"Can you smell that? Chloroform. That's why there wasn't a struggle" Sherlock deduced

"How does that help us?"

"It doesn't. But we must look at all of the facts…" Sherlock pushed away from the wall abruptly, throwing himself on the floor

"You see these?" He pointed out indents in the carpet

"two men, one size 9 feet the other size 12… So we can safely say that there was one 'brains' and one 'brawn' so to speak... These prints here show Allanah approached the door cautiously, but the door was thrown open with force, you can tell that by looking at the hinges. So, Allanah approaches the door, and as she comes to it, the door is thrown open and pushes her back and on to the floor."

Sherlock stood up and started pacing rapidly around the room

"But she isn't stupid, she would have had a weapon" I pointed out.

"True…"

Sherlock spun on the spot, eying the room. He did this about three or four times then pointed to the dresser on the far side of the room. I walked over to it, and found Allanahs red pocked knife, the very tip of the blade poking out from under the wood, catching the light. I threw it to Sherlock, who promptly caught it.

"As she was pushed back, her arm flew out, and she lost grip of the knife. The smaller man, 'brains' I shall call him, smothers Allanah with a chloroform soaked rag, and they drag her out, and down the fire exit to an awaiting getaway car."

He ran his hands through his dark curls, becoming more agitated in his stride

"How could I let this happen? They shouldn't have even been given the opportunity to get near her! I even went to Mycroft, Mycroft! To help protect her and his people failed. I failed"

"I thought you didn't care about people" I said softly

"Allanahs different" Sherlock whispered, barely audible

"How?"

"I don't know!" Sherlock burst out "She makes me want to be different. To make the mistake, to care..."

If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn Sherlock was in _love. _But of course I didn't voice that particular thought

"He's bored." Sherlock said softly, figuring it out

"Allanah and I are his little game, and he wants a climax…"

"So it's a trap" I deduced

"A trap in plain sight…"

Sherlock gave a half smile before bolting out of the door. Obviously I was meant to follow him.

"Sherlock! You're not actually going to try and find her are you?"

"Of course I am!"

_Of course he is._

**APOV**

I came to, surprisingly, on a mattress. I mean, a really good mattress, like, the Taj Mahal of mattresses. I looked around me. The room was plush, extravagant in the highest sense. The bed I lay on was a grand four poster, made of expensive looking wood, the linen made of high quality silk. When I sat up, the room spun. I closed my eyes and held my head still and when I opened them the room had become somewhat still, so I continued my analysis. Tinted wall length windows, plush carpets, creepy bear rug... Oh thank god, I've got booze, but god knows what's in it, so I decided to leave it. The windows were break-proof  
(well the chair, coffee table, hair dryer and surround sound speakers didn't even leave a crack, so… That was the obvious assumption)  
and everything was made of either plastic or really, really hard wood.  
Completely unbreakable.  
And I also didn't glance over the fact that there were cameras tracking my every move either.  
This wasn't the typical kidnapping-dungeon…

"Hellooo" A fake-pleasant, half unsettling, half-downright creepy voice reverberated through the room. Okay, so there were speakers in the floor or something…

"Who are you?" I yelled, not knowing if the person could hear me

"What do you want?" I was stupid, me looking for an answer, but, rational thinking wasn't top priority in this situation.

"Don't fret, darling, I only want to be occupied" said the voice

"Oh, so kidnapping someone is your idea of fun is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow even though they probably couldn't see it.

"Oh, god no, kidnapping is serious business… Messing with people's heads though… Now that is fun. Especially with Sherlock.. Oh, yes, Brilliant minds are the funnest to mess with… I've been planning this for a while now"

"oh?" I asked skeptically

"Don't think I'm going to give you any spoilers Allanah"

I really shouldn't have been surprised that he knew my name, but I was anyway.

"You'll just have to wait until Sherlock gets here now won't you? Got to dash! Places to go… People to see… you know the deal... ta ta!"

The voice went away as quickly as it came. And I was left feeling like a lamb being lead to slaughter.

**Well, there you have it! R&R!**


End file.
